1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to apparatus for packaging groups of bottles by mounting a plastic contoured cover on the neck of the bottles and, more particularly, to apparatus for separating each of the contoured plastic covers from the bottom contoured cover in a stack of contoured covers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Contoured covers of the type contemplated herein are made of a flexible plastic material and are provided with a number of openings corresponding to the number of bottles to be grouped in each package. The covers are stacked in groups of one hundred or more in a magazine. Due to the nature of the material of the contoured cover and its configuration, it is difficult to separate each cover from the bottom of the stack for automatic placement on the bottles. The covers are removed one at a time from the bottom of the stack by a vacuum system. The vacuum system includes a nozzle having a cup on the end that is moved into engagement with the bottom of a contoured cover. The nozzle is moved downward to pull the cover downward from the stack and deposit the cover on a conveyor for transport to a position for automatic pick up by each group of bottles. When operating at high speed the vacuum nozzle will often pull two or more covers off of the stack. Since it is not practical to stop the machine each time this occurs, the packaging machine will automatically seat the covers on the bottles regardless of the number of covers. If this continues to occur, then the machine must be stopped to correct the problem. This obviously increases the cost due to the slow down in production or the cost of the extra covers if mounted on the bottles.